Ranger: Cattle rustling on the rise

AUSTIN — In the days of the Old West, men on horseback would go to a ranch, round up as many cattle as possible and then lead the herd to distant locations, often across state lines.

At least, that’s Hollywood’s version of cattle rustling, one of the oldest crimes in Texas and in the American West.

Now, thanks to gooseneck trailers hitched to high-powered pickups, the theft of bovines is easier, faster and more profitable — just ask Dean Bohannon and Harold Dempsey.

“A lot of people think that cattle rustling is a thing of the past,” said Bohannon who, like Dempsey, is a West Texas-based special ranger for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, an organization founded 135 ago, primarily to go after cattle rustlers.

“But I think the problem is much bigger now than during the days of the Old West,” said Bohannon, whose district includes 18 rural counties in the South Plains.

“A guy can come into a ranch late at night, get about 20 or 30 cows and get as much as $1,000 a head” at livestock auctions, said Dempsey, whose district includes 18 counties in the Texas Panhandle.

“Most of the cases I work on are people who know where to go for a load,” Dempsey said. “These are guys who know how to steal cattle because they’ve been around livestock for most of their lives.”

This week, West Texas members of the Fort Worth-based Cattle Raisers Association — which also represents ranchers in Oklahoma and other states — will get an update on cattle rustling. The organization also will meet Tuesday in Canadian and Thursday in Roaring Springs, a tiny community in Motley County.

At both gatherings, which are open to the public free of charge, special rangers will update attendees on recent livestock and equipment thefts in the area and how ranchers can better protect their livestock against thieves.

Area ranchers might not like what they’ll hear.

In rural West Texas, like in other areas of the state where the $11.2-billion beef industry is a key sector of the economy, the theft of cattle and of other farm animals has made a comeback in recent years, mainly since the current economic downturn began five years ago.

For instance, $4.3 million worth of livestock was stolen from Texas ranches last year, compared to $3 million in 2007, according to the association’s figures. This was an average daily loss of $11,752 last year, compared to $8,321 five years ago.

The monetary loss could have been significantly higher because about half of the 13,696 farm animals reported missing or stolen last year were recovered, according to the association.

If there is any comforting news for cattle raisers in the Panhandle/South Plains region, it’s that their losses are not as bad as in areas east of Interstate 35.

There are reasons for the lower number of thefts in West Texas, said Larry Gray, director of the association’s law enforcement program.

First, there are more cattle in areas with higher theft rates than West Texas.

Second, many of those stolen or missing animals are not branded. In addition, many of the cattle raisers in areas with higher theft rates are absentee owners.

“Thieves love to prey on absentee owners,” Gray said. “Some of those absentee owners don’t even realize that their cows have been stolen until a week or two later.”

In West Texas, most ranchers live on the premises but also brand their livestock, he said.

Gray, Bohannon and Dempsey said one of their biggest frustrations is thieves don’t always get the punishment they deserve.

“Cattle rustling is a third-degree felony, but some DAs (district attorneys) are just not that interested in prosecuting some of those thieves,” Gray said. “They seem more preoccupied with other crimes, and I don’t understand it.

“The cattle industry is vital to the economies of some of those counties,” he said. “You’d think this would be high-priority for them.”

However, the association is glad cattle rustling now carries a more severe punishment, thanks to a bill state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, authored in the 2009 session.

Under Seliger’s bill, the crime went from being a state jail felony punishable by no more than two years in prison and a $10,000 fine to a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Seliger and other members of the Panhandle/South Plains legislative delegation said they’re glad the bill has helped. They doubt more legislation is necessary.

“I don’t know how much more deterrence we need,” Seliger said. “Is anyone willing to risk 10 years in the penitentiary for stealing $100,000 worth of livestock?”

Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, sees a combination of law enforcement and stronger prevention measures as the key to reducing the number of cattle thefts.

“A lot has to do with the ranchers implementing safeguards,” Duncan said. “It may be more about law enforcement activity than anything we do here.”